


In which Pepper takes care of things

by Skull_Bearer



Series: Sex, Love and Robotics [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Nightmares, Omegaverse, mostly just porn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-12
Updated: 2014-04-12
Packaged: 2018-01-19 02:05:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1451401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skull_Bearer/pseuds/Skull_Bearer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short interlude between Tony and Pepper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In which Pepper takes care of things

**Author's Note:**

> Bridging the gap between IM1 and 2

He's had this nightmare before. He's had it, pretty regularly, since his father died.

It's always the same.

He's in his workshop- not his own, his father's. It's dark-why is it so dark? Tony could never work like this- and he's sitting at the bench, frozen and unable to move. He's seventeen and terrified and pregnant and his father is talking, and Tony knows the words by heart by now.

He tries to move, his body feels like lead, fighting against fear and Alpha-command. He manages to get his feet under him, eyes locked on Howard's back-

Hands reach over his shoulders, catch his hands and slam them down flat on the workshop bench. Tony pulls, stupidly, uselessly and the grip is like iron, it's like-

Tony turns his head, and knows what he's going to see. He knew he was never going to stop having nightmares about this.

Obadiah's teeth are bared in a smile, his body is a hot heavy weight against Tony's shoulders, pressing him against the bench, splaying his hands flat on the scarred wood.

-he and I will be having a talk about your – situation. And your irresponsible attitude - His father just keeps talking, and turns around and Tony has seen it a thousand times - more, in the eighteen years since he started having this nightmare, but it never changes. He's always screaming when he sees the hammer in Howard's hands.

He screams and he can hear Obie laughing against his ear. He twists and pulls and tries to kick or elbow or something, anything. He get one hand free for a moment before Obadiah catches it again and slams it back down so hard it hurts.

Howard's still talking like some kind of- of broken record, the same script every fucking time as he walks over, lifting the hammer. Tony can feel Obadiah nod against his shoulder- yes, yes do it, do it now-

And believe me Tony; this will be the last time this happens.  
Howard brings the hammer down on Tony bare hands, flat on the fragile bones that Tony hears crack, the skin bruising black as blood vessels burst and his fingers snap like twigs and he's screaming-

Obadiah laughs, takes his hands and curls his splintered fingers into fists, Tony can feel the little bones crunch and scrape together, he can almost hear them, under his own cries. He tries to open his hands but Obadiah just clenches harder until tears run down Tony’s face and oh please no god if he can't splint his fingers they'll heal like this and he'll never make anything again. His hands useless knots of bone.

He's screaming-

And screaming-

And-

Tony wakes gasping, sweat pouring down his back and soaking the shirt he always wears to hide- well never mind. His hands still hurt with the ghost-pain of a dream, fading quickly as his body reminds his stricken mind that his hands are, in fact, fine.

He tries to catch his breath, shaking. He's on the workshop couch, the lights out. He kicks off the blankets and by the light of the arc reactor he can see his hands. He flexes them, once, twice. They're fine. A few old scars. Nothing new. Nothing.

He slumps back, and it's about then he realises he's not only sweating because of the nightmare.

Oh fuck, really?

Tony groans, only enough time to think 'why now', before the Heat kicks its way into his head and he's back on his bimonthly rollercoaster.

"Dummy." Tony groans. "Heat kit, now."

He's pulling off his pants and boxers when Dummy's wheels squeak towards him from whatever the bot had been up to. Not even opening his eyes, Tony reaches out blindly and grabs the box. His sweat-slicked fingers slide over the edges and it's a fight to get it open and fumble for his usual toy, the big curved dildo with the thick knot at the base.

It fits in sweetly, slides in a little at a time because he's new in Heat and not quite loose enough yet. The burning want melts into the delicious friction of the toy slowly grinding inside him, his hole not quite slick enough to make it entirely painless.

It's a good sort of half-pain. Tony groans, and drops the Heat kit on the floor. The snack bars crumble on impact and the toys spill on the floor- The vibrators he usually uses to open himself up, the thicker dildos he uses when he's lost in Heat and begging, screaming for any kind of satisfaction, the thick vibrating beads he uses around the end, when he's too shattered to move after four days of desperation and his body is still screaming for more.

But that'll come later. For now the dildo's knot bumps against the entrance to his body, the tip presses against his prostate and Tony is gone, jerking into his hand and coming in streams.

It's not much of a relief; the next wave is harder, wilder still. He's relaxed and wet enough that the knot goes in with a groan. The hot sweet satisfaction of a knot, even a false one, is drowned out by the sharp-sweet almost pain of the tip curving to press against that tight, wonderful place deep inside him, the ribbing bumping against his prostate. His eyes roll into the back of his head.

The tip pierces him, he loosens and lets it in. Tony howls and comes again almost at once, so sudden it hurts. His skin itches with want, Heat-loneliness at facing down five days without anyone to look after him.

"Ms Potts, I would advise-" Jarvis' voice is shockingly loud.

"Tony, are you in here?" Pepper's voice runs long, cool nails down Tony's spine. Even knowing she's close relaxes a part of him that has nothing to do with sex."Tony- oh, Tony."

Tony cranes his head, squints against light that seems way too bright. Pepper's standing a few feet away, looking unsure whether she should come closer.

"Pep-" Tony's tongue is thick in his mouth, he reaches out mindlessly with his free hand- come still wet on his fingers, the other still pressing the dildo into his body, tip resting just inside his cervix.

Pepper takes his hand, and grimaces."Are you okay?"

Tony couldn't answer if he could, arching his back luxuriously to grind the dildo deeper still. He doesn't need to, Pepper can see for herself.

"Do you want me to call someone?"

Tony squints at her, "Who?" He manages.

Pepper doesn't say anything. There's an awkward silence and Tony pulls his hand back to get back to work.

"Tony." He blinks back at her. Pepper smiles, she moves closer. He can scent her, she smells wonderful.  
Her hand is wonderfully cool against his forehead, nails scrape against his skin. Every nerve in his body echoes with the sensation, and a groan so lost it’s almost a purr breaks from his throat.

“Do you want me to-“

Tony blinks up at her, so close he can smell her- warm and safe, Pepper smells of home – struggling to make out if he heard right because there is no way he could be this lucky;  
“-what?”

“I can’t just- if you don’t-“ Pepper honest-to-god babbles, then stops, swallows, and Tony swears he can smell the scent change to Professional Pepper. “Come on, you can’t do this here.”

She manages to get an arm behind him and lifts him until he’s sitting up. Tony keens as the motion jars the dildo inside him, it slips out, leaving him empty and aching. It’s unbearable. “Pepper-“

“Let’s get you to a proper bed.” Pepper’s arms are surprisingly strong, he’s upright and clinging to her before it registers. She’s so close, so warm. Tony buries his face in the crook of head and neck and inhales, feeling a miserable knot deep inside his chest loosen.

Pepper manages to organise them, one arm around Tony’s waist, the other holding his arm across her shoulders. She’s had to do this often enough when he’s black-out drunk. Tony closes his eyes and just tries to hang on, every step is unbearable. Every second is an eternity, he wants, he want now. Every moment he’s left empty and desperate is a lifetime.

Dummy beeps, runs up quickly with the Heat kit. He must have picked them up while Tony was out of it. Tony hasn’t even got the sense to be embarrassed at his robot handing his PA a box of dildos and vibrators, and Pepper doesn’t turn a hair, just politely thanks Dummy in her usual slightly uncomfortable way, and takes the box, tucking under her arm.

“Come on Tony, this way. We just need the elevator-“ The doors open without needing to be asked. Tony drops to the floor and groans, hand pulling at what’s left of his clothing. He wants, he wants now. He wants everything and now and please and everywhere please-

“Tony.” He doesn’t realise he’s babbling out loud until he opens his eyes, feels his lips move without thinking. Pepper crouches next to him, helps him sit up. Tony clings to her, the world spinning. “It’s okay. I’ll take care of you, Tony.”

The door opens after a few- seconds, eternities, lifetimes – and they make it the final few steps to Tony’s room. The whole place smells wrong. Tony’s barely spent any time here, he’s been either in the workshop or out as Iron Man and if he’s slept at all it’s been in the cot downstairs. The room smells empty and musty and unfriendly, and Tony hold his hands out to Pepper, wanting to hold her and wrap himself in her scent and body and presence until everything is Pepper Potts and nothing more.

She doesn’t come at once and Tony groans “Please”, but then she does and it’s all warmth and smooth skin so hot it almost burns, and Tony is almost purring it feels so good-

Pepper kisses him, and if Tony wasn’t so lost he’d be annoyed that this is how they have their first kiss, when he’s barely going to remember it-

Her lips are crisp with lipstick, skin powdery-smooth, she’s all long edges and ropes of muscle going on endlessly. Tony wants to pulls her around him, tie them both together until it’s just them, endlessly, and-  
Pepper is pulling at his shirt, trying to get it off, and Tony freezes. He’s not that far deep yet, and the idea of what would happen- what she’d see- is a drench of cold water over him. “Please, don’t.”

Pepper stops dead, hands still on the hem of his shirt. Even in the dim light, Tony can see her go pale. 

She lets go, lies down next to him and puts her arms around him, Tony relaxes, melts back into the Heat. “I’m sorry.” She whispers against his hair. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“S’okay.” Tony shifts, manages to get one of her legs between his and starts grinding. “Please.”

It’s not perfect, they don’t fit together right. Pepper isn’t Alpha enough to get inside him properly, or Omega enough to have the right kind of connection, the sense of touching beneath the skin. But she’s Pepper and she already knows Tony inside out. 

Her hands are warm, and her long nails catch on Tony’s skin just enough to make him shiver. She’s not too sure about the toys, but she catches on quickly and soon Tony’s writhing it feels so good. Full and deep and Pepper’s everywhere, coaxing sounds from him that Tony wasn’t aware humans could make. She gets one of the vibrators deep inside him and when she turns it on the sound that it tears from Tony’s chest is like the purr of an enormous cat. It surprises him into a stuttered laugh, and Pepper joins in, laughing like silver bells.

Somewhere between the waves, Tony grabs a moment of clarity. Pepper passes him a water bottle and he drinks ravenously. “-not in your job description.” He croaks.

Pepper pauses from where she’s rummaging for some energy bars. “Neither is taking out your trash, spying in your offices, or blowing up your arc reactor.” She passes him one, tearing off the wrapper. “You need this.”

“Don’t have to do it.” Tony ignores the bar and rubs his face deeper in the pillows, enjoying the all-too-brief moment where there’s just no space in his head for anything but good.

Pepper runs her nails down his clothed back, drawing goosebumps. “You didn’t have anyone else.” She ignores Tony’s glower. “I wouldn’t have anyone else either.” 

Tony lifts his head, looks her in the eye because this is important, and he needs to get this out. "Nothing's going to change?" He loves her, he loves her so, so much and the thought that things are going to be awkward or- worse - is just horrible

Pepper smiles, kisses him again and Tony tries to cement the kiss in his mind, he wants to remember every single one- he's a genius, it'll take him a long, long time to lose count. "I don't think anyone could change you, Tony. Now, eat."  
Tony has no idea if he eats or not, because the next wave chooses that moment to hit, and the world whites out.


End file.
